Certainty
by ardavenport
Summary: Obi-Wan and an Engineer kill some time while waiting for ship repairs. Technology and the Force meet.
1. Chapter 1

**CERTAINTY**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 1**

"Could you pass me the hydrospanner, please?"

"Um, what size?"

"Oh, ah. . . . the small one, I think."

The young Jedi handed Engineer Topo Klatmin the requested tool. She clicked to it's widest setting, placed the head of it over the release socket of the damaged junction cover and tightened the clamp. The top plate came off right away and she handed it and the hydrospanner to the Jedi.

She pushed aside the coils of wires inside to reveal the scorched transducer box underneath. She smelled the burnt plastoids and insulation, the kind of scent that would filter down into her fur and stay there until her next thorough washing. The air inside the access panel tasted of singed metaloids. The blue fur of her arms looked gray in the shadows. Curling her blunt fingers under the edge of the box, she tugged on it. It didn't budge. Bracing herself against the outside she tried again, but it stubbornly remained fixed in place. She wondered if it might be partially welded in.

"May I?"

Topo looked at her helper, Jedi Apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, his large blue-gray eyes eager. She stepped away and he pushed back the wide sleeves of his white tunic and reached inside. His tight inner sleeves covered his arms which was a relief to her; she did not like seeing too much bare skin.. Hairlessness was a symptom of ill-health. But not in Humans, she reminded herself. With all that naked flesh, she supposed that was why the Humans were so covered with only their heads, necks and hands exposed.

He was young, but only a modestly-sized adult and like most Humans he had skinny arms, more bone than muscle, so there was no reason why he could move the damaged component when she couldn't.

With a loud snap from the back of the compartment, he brought the transducer box out and held it up for her. As she had thought, the blackened metaloid on the base of it had been partially melted in place.

"Thank-you," she said, her tone flattened with surprise at his unexpected strength. Or disappointment at her weakness. "Put it over there with the others."

While he did that, she went back into the compartment and tested the contacts for the transducer. They were singed, but still working. She bent down and collected Professor Trechmin's improvised connection cables and attached them to all the transducer sockets. She sat back and ruffled the fur on the back of her head. There was no way to close the compartment with the mass off wiring hanging out of it, but it didn't have to look pretty. It just had to work long enough to get their ship into orbit. And safely back down to the other side of the planet.

She turned and found Jedi Obi-Wan already holding the testing meter for her, his gray-blue eyes wide in the Human expression of perpetual child-like surprise, accented by the dark thin lines of fur over them. He hardly needed to move his head at all for her to read his meaning. Expression came from the mobile parts of his face; up, down, stretching out, wrinkling up. In contrast, the short gold-tinted brown fur on the top of his head was completely frozen, standing up in place on the tight skin of his skull.

She thanked him and checked all the cables and connections. Twice.

"Well, that's about all we can do with this," Topo finally announced putting the meter aside. She straightened her long yellow body-vest and orange skirt, and went to one of the rear seats of the cabin and sat down. Kenobi slipped easily into the one opposite her. Two of him could have sat next to each other between the armrests. The Jedi had sat in the two rear seats since they invited themselves onto this survey team at the last minute.

"Should we set the flight coordinates for our orbit?" Kenobi asked.

Topo shook her furry hand.

"Captain Chemi's already done that. I'd double-check the course, but not without RT-37 and Trechmin's going to hog that astromech until she's finished. We can't really do anything more until she gets done."

The door to the rear compartment of the ship slid open and Professor Ahrak Trechmin strode in, her bright orange body-vest and yellow-and-brown patterned skirt standing out against her aqua-tinged blue body fur with its even, smooth color over her whole body that she so carefully maintained.

"There." She held out a small but heavy cylinder to Jedi Obi-Wan. "I've squeezed everything I can from that. I need the other one."

He unhappily took the spent power cell, got up and went to the outer hatch. It slid open for him as he took a breather from the rack. He went into the airlock to the outside. The hatch slid closed behind him.

"Did you get everything hooked up?" Trechmin demanded.

"Of course. I wouldn't be sitting here chatting if I hadn't. We're all just waiting on you now," Topo snapped back, but with no real hostility in her voice. She always returned Trechmin's bluntness with her own. Especially when her comrade was being particularly prickly and obnoxious.

"Have you got the course set?"

"The Captain did it. I could check it if you could spare the astromech for a few minutes."

"Can't."

Trechmin grumpily went forward to her seat in front and Topo levered herself up, patted her vest and skirt back in place and went to her own place behind the pilot's chair, the light from the purplish sky and wispy pink clouds coming in from above.

"So, is there enough for a boost into orbit?" Topo asked.

"Yes," Trechmin admitted, rudely not turning her head back to answer, her eyes on the displays at the co-pilot's controls. The ship's main computer had been stepped down to stand-by mode to preserve the forward batteries. "And a little more, too. But it's ridiculous that we're stuck here scavenging for power."

Topo grunted. "Sargent Maedae said the ship was sabotaged. We're just lucky that Captain Chemi was able to land. And that those Jedi came with us."

Trechmin's head fur flattened. "Chemi is an experienced fighter. This wasn't his first crash. But it IS just luck that those Jedi got on our ship; no matter what Jedi Qui-Gon says about disturbances in his cosmic hoo-haw," she sneered. "There's no mystical 'Force' out there telling them where to go help people. When we get back we'll probably find that the Samaks got to half the ships anyway, just to keep us from confirming that they haven't disarmed"

"Well, we'd be stuck for a long time waiting for someone to walk in and get us. Those Samaks wouldn't let in another ship; the rescuers would have to come over half the planet by ground-speeder. And those emergency rations taste like wood pulp; it would have been a long wait without those Jedi and their power cells."

"Oh, those Samaks are worse than the Jedi with their clan honor and sacred lands. This rock isn't any more special than a lot of other places in this galaxy that have much sweeter atmospheres." She shook a heavy furry fist. "It's our indulging them in their primitive superstitions that brought us here. If they want to prove they've disarmed, they should just do it without all this ceremony."

"Well, I'm just here to do my duty. And I thought you were, too. I had no idea that you cared so much about the politics."

Finally turning to her, Trechmin's mouth tightened shut so much it practically disappeared in the aqua-blue of her face-fur before she spoke.

"I don't care about anyone of it. I was asked to lend my expertise and I came. I did not come to weld together random ship parts so we could just limp back to where we started from." She got up from her seat and pointed. "Look at that mess back there."

Topo looked at the rear panel with all the cables hanging from it; more thick cables snaked on the floor to other improvised outlets.

"You don't think it will work?"

"Of course it will work!" she snapped. When her head fur flattened it covered the aqua tint underneath. Blue was Trechmin's color of discontent. "I designed it. But I don't like being stuck here improvising with spare parts. We both came here to do a job and there's little chance of that. This whole trip has been a complete waste of my time."

The outer door hissed open and Jedi Obi-Wan returned. He solemnly walked up to the senior Engineer and handed her the power cell from Jedi Qui-Gon's lightsaber. Trechmin snatched it from his hand and stomped back to the door of the rear compartment. Jedi Obi-Wan watched her go, though Topo thought he was watching the cylinder she took away with her.

His shoulders relaxing, Jedi Obi-Wan sat down and, his expression sad, he held up the drained power cell of his own lilghtsaber. He reached for the weapon on his belt.

"It's not going to work," Topo told him. "Trechmin would have sucked every photo of energy from it for the engines."

He held up the now-useless lightsaber.

"I have to put it somewhere. And I'm used to carrying it here."

Topo nodded back. He had a point. He quickly clicked open the lightsaber handgrip, slid in the power cell and closed it up again.

"I suppose you would have to have some technical training to put one of those together," the Engineer commented by way of conversation. He looked at her with his wide-open eyes, the white edges visible on either side of the large blue-gray centers. "I've heard that Jedi are supposed to build there own."

"Yes, we do. And, yes, Jedi are trained in all basic technology. But neither of us have anywhere near your skill. And neither of us could do anything like what Dr. Trechmin has."

"You mean completely redesign the power systems to the engines to run on the batteries long enough for a boost back to the Gathering Point in time to report the sabotage so they can send another inspection team before the Samak's deadline runs out?"

Jedi Obi-Wan grinned. Their species had that expression in common.

"Yes, that," he agreed.

Topo sat back in her seat. "I couldn't have done it either. I'm a good Engineer, but Trechmin is the creative one."

"Creative? Trechmin?" he asked with a rising tone of surprise.

"With machines and engines at least," she explained. "She's fantastic. She can turn a cleaning droid into a nexus processor with a hydrospanner and spare bits of wire. I suppose that makes up a little bit for her complete lack of social skills."

"Well," Jedi Obi-Wan replied a little shyly, tilting his head, "I did not want to be rude and say anything."

"Why not? That doesn't stop Trechmin. She understands bluntness. Subtleties like manners fly right past her. Especially when she's out of the lair of her own lab. Being outside of her comfort zone really brings out her hostility.

"But," Topo pushed up out of her chair, "genius will not be hurried. It will take her awhile to transduce all the energy from your boss's power cell into the ship's batteries. Let's see if Chemi's got anything good in the ship's computers. I think we have enough power to spare for some entertainment while we wait."

Leaning over the co-pilot's seat, Trechmin activated the non-ship function screens and began tapping through the options.

"It's mostly local stuff. . . . . . music. . . . . holos. . . . . a few games I've never heard of. Let's see what this sounds like."

The cabin filled with instrumental music, a blatting brassy melody with a clanging rhythm. It was good but Topo hastily dialed down the volume. Obviously Captain Chemi liked it loud when he had the ship to himself. She peered at Jedi Obi-Wan but he seemed to be wincing, his head lowered, his shoulders up.

She clicked to the next selection. A singer, who sounded like she was at the bottom of a well, cooed a love song. It was a pleasant tune even if it was over-produced but Jedi Obi-Wan did not respond to it.

The next selection had a good beat and a chorus of vocals. Chemi had good taste. Jedi Obi-Wan's expression was neutral at best, but at least he didn't look like he was in pain. Topo straightened, swinging her body from side to side.

"Come on, let's dance."

Jedi Obi-Wan recoiled, his wide eyes gone even wider.

Annoyed, she dropped her arms to her sides.

"Oh, don't tell me that Jedi don't dance."

"Well, . . . . yes. . . I mean, they do, they-they can, but I don't think this is a good time or place."

"What else are we going to do? Trechmin's going to be awhile draining that power cell and we've done everything we can in here," she complained irritably, which just seemed to make him more guilty-looking.

Then Topo remembered that Humans, especially males, were always in season. She turned the music down.

"You do know that our species are completely incompatible for sex? I mean physically. Completely incompatible," she tried to reassure him with a waving hand gesture. He practically jumped back.

"Oh yes! Of course! But. . . . " His head turned toward the airlock hatch like it was his last hope. She had to admit that it could look bad if Jedi Qui-Gon walked in on them dancing. She had no knowledge of how strict Human were about dancing; perhaps he was supposed to ask permission from his boss.

"Well, you can go out there with the others. Defend the ship against any Samak renegades who might have figured out where we crashed this thing."

Jedi Obi-Wan looked a bit calmer, but he did not move toward the exit.

"My Master wanted me to stay in here with you and Trechmin. Perhaps we should help her?" he suggested, gesturing toward the rear of the ship.

"Don't," she warned, holding up her hands. "Trechmin's got everything set up back there, exactly the way she likes it. You saw. And she does not like people coming in to 'help'. Why don't you go and protect the ship with Sargent Maedae and the others?"

The blue-gray centers of Jedi Obi-Wan's eyes flicked toward the airlock again with no head motion at all.

"Master Qui-Gon thought I should stay here with you two," he repeated.

"Like we need protecting?" Topo scowled back.

"I'll just go back and check and see if she needs anything."

Before Topo could find another objection he darted back to the rear door and disappeared. She stared after him. Then she leaned back toward the forward controls and turned the music back up.

Bouncing to the beat behind the forward seats, she looked out the forward viewport. The big flat rocks and boulders under the feathery green and purple foliage on this part of the Samak's sacred world were mostly metallic orange, streaked with deep red and grays. She did not know why; geology was not her specialty. But it was interesting and she decided to look up the environment mappings later. One of Maedae's officers, Dechim, strolled by under the nose of the ship, his head and body constantly turning side-to-side, eyes watchfully scanning the terrain, his blue fur pricked up, his hand loosely resting on his blaster, the holster strapped over his body vest and skirt.

Topo tuned away from the outside and shuffled down the rows of seats to the small open space by the airlock hatch.

The song ended and something slower started up. She went forward to click to something more dance-able and then returned to the back of the main cabin again. She did not hear any yelling coming from the rear, but the ship seemed well sound-proofed.

She supposed that if she were a complete work-a-holic like Trechmin that she would be reviewing the plans of the site they were supposed to be inspecting for the treaty verification. But there seemed little chance that they would get to that. They would be lucky to make it back to the Gathering Point in time. She doubted that the treaty would be completed, but that was not her job to worry about.

She was happy to volunteer her technical expertise for the cause, verifying the terms of the disarmament treaty. But between the stomach turning terror of the emergency landing, the frantic repairs and the improvised fuel replacement, this trip had been far too exciting.

Topo thought about her students. At the moment she really did not care what they might have destroyed in the lab during her absence. Even thoughts of the classes of slow-thinking first-years made her yearn for this whole mis-adventure to be over.

At the end of the third song the rear door opened.

"OUT!"

Jedi Obi-Wan practically flew out. A silver tool came sailing over his head before the door slid closed. It clattered down under the seats.

**- - - End Part 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**CERTAINTY**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 2**

Topo turned the music off.

Jedi Obi-Wan straightened and tugged on his tunic and sleeves, his big eyes sadly chastised.

"She doesn't like Jedi," he explained.

"She doesn't really like anybody. But she usually doesn't throw things even when she's in this foul a mood. What did you do?"

"I offered my assistance. But. . . . " He closed his mouth, looking a bit helpless.

"What did you do?"

"She dropped a micro-probe and it rolled under the shield generator. And I retrieved it for her," he explained. After her silent disbelieving look, he extended his hand before him. The silver micro-probe bumped up out of the seats before flying up in the air and landing in his palm, his small, slender pale fingers closing around the shaft of the tool.

"Trechmin wouldn't be happy to see that," she commented.

"Why would it bother her?"

She sat down and he did as well, leaning toward her, his arms resting on his skinny knees.

"There are two kinds of Engineers. Those who don't worry about the unexplainable. And those who think that everything can and should be explained; they just don't have time to do it all; and that anyone who insists otherwise is a evil liar and a fraud. I'm the former. And Trechmin is the later.

"Do you know what they teach about Jedi energies to Engineers?"

He shook his head, his eyes large and inquisitive.

"They can't be explained. Nobody in the history of the galaxy has ever been able to account for them. Everywhere else, energy and mass follow rules. Except for the Jedi, who seem to pull whatever they want out of hyperspace. It doesn't fit any of the equations that everyone else has to answer to for time or place or probabilities."

"And that bothers her?"

"She doesn't like anything around her to be out of her control. Especially when," she lifted her hands, her head looking from one end of the ship's main cabin to the other, "everything really is out of her control whether she wants to admit it or not."

He nodded.

"And you?" he asked.

"Me? I already know that practically everything around me is out of my control all the time. What difference does one or two more things make?"

Jedi Obi-Wan grinned and Topo held out her hand.

"Here, I'll give Trechmin back her micro-probe. After that we'll watch a holo."

He nodded.

She went back to the rear and touched the door release.

"You missed," she announced, holding the probe out. Her fellow Engineer snatched it back.

"I'm doing some delicate work here." She pointed at the rickety black fixture, the Jedi power cell visible in the middle, amidst the cross-work of struts and wires. RT-37 clicked and beeped, one long probe extending from the squat astromech's body to the transducer connection to the power cell.

"I don't have any time for Jedi tricks."

Topo leaned on a bulkhead. "Jedi are full of tricks. They come that way. You shouldn't let it bother you."

Trechmin turned away from her work, her eyes narrowed to indentations in the green-tinted blue of the short fur of her face.

"It. Doesn't. Bother me."

Topo nodded her head.

"Well, we'll wait out there waiting for you. We're going to watch a holo."

Trechmin turned back to her power monitors and Topo left her to it.

"Now let's see what we've got."

She passed Jedi Obi-Wan on her way up to the front of the ship. At the co-pilot's seat she clicked through Chemi's collection while he moved to a more forward seat.

"How about a crime drama?" She looked back toward Jedi Obi-Wan. The lines over his eyes lifted, his wide-eyed expression blank.

"Maybe not. . . . . space farce?"

His shoulders rose and fell in a quick motion.

"Historical?"

Blank stare.

"Tragedy?"

"Whatever you would like would be fine," he finally said agreeably.

"Well, what do you like? What do you watch for fun?"

"I don't really watch many holos."

"When was the last time you saw one?"

He paused to think. "Last year. My Master an I were protecting a dignitary from the Dremotak Consortium."

"When was the last time you saw a holo for yourself? Just for fun."

Blank stare.

"Well, what do you do for fun when you're not being a Jedi?" she asked, her tone rising.

"I am always a Jedi. Being a Jedi is not an occupation like being an Engineer. It is a calling."

Topo thought he sounded so innocent and earnest and certain when he said that.

"When was the last time you actually had any fun at all?" she challenged.

His surprise only lasted a moment, replaced by a smile on his hairless lips.

"I can do this." The dead lightsaber un-clipped itself from his belt and rose up to his raised hand, his five small narrow fingers spread, four long, one short on the side. The lightsaber hovered within his grasp and then slowly turned, guided by his hand. Topo watched, her analytical mind automatically speculating about what device would be used to accomplish the trick. A small null-grav projector would work, but there had to be a grav-pusher to get it to move and a power pack to run it. And the projector would have to be specially designed to fit under his clothes, and made from high-grade materials. Very expensive. And still uncomfortable to wear next to the skin. And what would he use to activate and control it? Muscle motion sensors? Implants? And how could anyone do that and not wonder how it worked?

She clamped down on her mental speculation, refusing to go down into that blackhole. If a thousand generations of engineers hadn't figured out what Jedi did then she was not likely to get anywhere with the problem. She had a life, her students, teaching, a long queue of work projects, a yard full of weeds, her brother's family problems. . . .

"That's not my idea of fun," she said with a pretense of being unimpressed. "How about a holo?"

The silver and black lightsaber hilt dropped into his palm with a slight smack. "Whatever you would like," he invited.

She picked out an inter-species lost-love holo. The drama appeared with a flourish of music in mid-air between the pilot and co-pilots' seats.

It was decent. The two leads were a Lumaught and a Wookiee almost three times his size. It was a ridiculous pairing and some of the jokes about it made Topo laugh out loud. But when they were separated with a flimsy plot contrivance the performers made the situation believable.

Her eyes mostly stayed on the transparent figures of the holo, but sometimes she would sneak a glance toward Jedi Obi-Wan. While his eyes were pointed in the right direction, Topo had the strong impression that he really wasn't watching the holo at all. And he did not laugh at any of the funny parts, though he smiled when he caught her peeking at him.

The airlock door opened just as the two lost lovers ended up on the same space station, but they still were not aware of each other. Topo paused the action.

Officer Meresim and Captain Chemi cane in, putting their breathers into the rack.

"Oh, I like that one," Chemi said, straightening the white body vest over his dark blue fur and black skirt. Meresim wore the same gray body vest uniform and skirt over her blue-gray fur as the other security people. Both Chemi and Meresim wore blaster belts and holsters cinched over their vests. Jedi Obi-Wan stood to greet them.

"Have you gotten to the part where they wreck the food stalls on the space station and - - -"

"No! And don't tell me anymore," Topo warned. Chemi grinned back.

"We just came in to use the fresher," Meresim explained. "And we were hoping that your resident genius was finished?"

"You can go back and ask her yourself on your way to the fresher. I've learned not to ask stupid questions like that. When she's done, she'll tell us," Topo answered.

"I shouldn't get yelled at just for asking," the security officer grumbled. She and Chemi went to the rear door.

Jedi Obi-Wan was still standing after they were gone. He looked almost disappointed as he sat down and faced the holo again.

Just as they were getting to the part where they wrecked all the food stalls in the public eating area with the fire control systems the rear door slid open again. Chemi, Meresim and Trechmin came forward. The astromech rolled after them and plugged in to a computer socket at the rear control monitors.

"We're done!" Chemi announced, passing Topo and taking her seat in front. "I'll give you a copy," she promised with a grin as she clicked the holo off.

"You better," the Engineer told her.

Meresim had already gone out to get the others.

"Be careful powering up the lifters," Trechmin warned from the co-pilot's seat. All the displays activated. Unlike her fellow Engineer, Topo's background did not include ship mechanics and piloting, but she could tell that at least half of the indicators were good.

The others came in, putting their breathers back into the rack. Officers Meresim and Dechim, Sargent Maedae and Jedi Qui-Gon.

Jedi Obi-Wan had stood again and he stared at his boss with open-mouthed surprise.

Jedi Qui-Gon wore Sargent Maedae's bluster belt and holster over his pale tunic just under his own wide belt and lightsaber.

"He's got deadly aim with a blaster," Maedae announced with pride. "You can hang those things on your belts if it makes you feel better, but you'll need more than those ceremonial things to protect yourselves now." Maedae thumped the large Jedi on the back.

Though he was as thin and bony as other Humans, Jedi Qui-Gon was tall, mature and broad across the shoulders. But the dull brown fur on his head trailed limply onto his back and the hair covering the lower part of his face was so wiry and sparse in places that Topo thought that he would have looked healthier without it. Like Jedi Obi-Wan, all expression came from the movements of the parts of his face. She read friendly tolerance from the Jedi boss for their cheerful and loud Sargent, who opened a storage compartment and retrieved two spare blaster holsters. He went to Jedi Obi-Wan and held one out to him.

Topo had to hold in her laugh. Jedi Obi-Wan could not have looked more offended than if he had just been offered a steaming bag of Razkak poodoo. But one pleading look to the senior Jedi got him only a tiny nod for him to accept the weapon.

"Can't have you two walking around naked without some real fire power. Just because no one was waiting for us here doesn't mean that we're not going to meet a nasty surprise when we get back," Maedae said as he watched Jedi Obi-Wan reluctantly buckle the blaster belt on.

"Powering up," Chemi announced. "There's a power spike in the - - "

"Not anymore," Trechmin said briskly from the co-pilot's seat, cutting off the problem.

Taking her place behind them, Topo watched Chemi and Trechmin click through the engine and thruster checks. Chemi tried the com, but even with a boost from the new battery power the signal could not punch through the heavy atmospheric ionization and he shut it off when Trechmin complained about the waste of energy.

"Don't try the com again until we're close to the Gathering Point," Maedae said, sitting behind Techmin's chair. "There might be someone unpleasant listening. We still don't know if our ship was the only one sabotaged." Trechmin glanced back with a flat-furred scowl before returning to the controls.

Topo, the two Jedi and the three security people strapped themselves in behind Trechmin and Chemi. The rumble and vibration of the deck plates under her feet felt louder and rougher than she liked. The view of the hills around them dropped away from the forward view ports, leaving only purple sky.

"Ugh, this thing is flying like a lead slug," Chemi complained.

"I got two thrusters working from that mess back there," Trechmin snapped. "You should be grateful for that."

Remembering their uncontrolled descent, Topo heard rattling behind them in back. Unwilling to turn to see if anything was coming loose she kept a tight grip on the armrests of her chair. The purple ahead of them deepened much more slowly than it should have, but finally it faded to star-flecked black, the bright white and tan curve of the planet below.

"Orbit," Chemi announced.

"I've got the coordinates from the droid," Trechmin added. RT-37 beeped an affirmative from the back.

Topo glanced at the others. Maedae leaned forward, peering carefully at the controls and the two pilots. Behind them, Meresim and Dechim just looked relieved. And in the back, both Jedi sat calmly wide-eyed. Jedi Obi-Wan scrunched one-eye at her. She wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but it seemed friendly. Behind him she saw all the improvised cable connections in their places and no sparks or scents of burning and the disturbing noises seemed to have calmed down.

She turned back to the forward ports.

A holo of their position glowed green and red over a projector between Chemi and Trechmin's seats. Their progress seemed ridiculously slow. She kept her thoughts on this short trip ending and how much she would enjoy stepping off of this ship. Hopefully it would be scrapped when they were done with it. She thought about the patched hull breach in the rear. They did not have enough power for the back-up force-field seal that was supposed to keep in the air and keep out the hard radiation from the planet's primary star if anything went wrong .

Finally, their damaged ship descended. Topo's grip tightened on the armrests again. The rattling in back returned, louder than before, as the thickening atmosphere glowed red around the edges of the forward view port. She thought about how much power the re-entry shielding used up. She stayed rigid in her seat and firmly looked at the back of Chemi's head.

The sky around the ship brightened. Her insides felt lightened, as if the ship were plummeting downward toward the ground. But neither Chemi nor Trechmin seemed concerned and Maedae leaned even further forward, the restraint straps straining, digging into the vest and plush fur of his shoulders. If none of them were concerned then they couldn't possibly be falling, she reasoned.

"There's the tower," Chemi said, clicking on the com. A burst of static came out before he could say anything. Trechmin shut it off.

"Don't land on the field. Go next to the command center," Maedae said, his voice low.

"What are you talking about?" Trechmin demanded.

"Just do it."

Chemi did not argue. Topo said nothing, gripping the armrests and glancing back at the two other security people releasing the safety functions on their blasters. The Jedi stayed still, outwardly calm, but those big Human eyes of theirs watched everything.

The ship descended, the wiry trees and top of the command center rising up in the view ports. The ship thumped into a relatively soft landing.

Nothing moved. No extending cranes, no lifters, no droids, no lights, no people. In the ship's cabin, restraining strap buckles un-clicked.

Sargent Maedae, Meresim and Dechim bolted up out of their seats, but the Jedi were already at the airlock and placing breather masks over their faces.

**- - - End Part 2**


	3. Chapter 3

**CERTAINTY**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 3**

"I'm no fighter," Chemi announced, hands up, as the Security and Jedi rushed out, leaving them behind. The airlock hatch slid closed.

"What?" Trechmin demanded. "There isn't any fight. Where is everyone?" She half rose from her seat, looking down through the viewport while Topo slunk down lower in hers. She really did not feel like explaining anything to her. Topo was no fighter either and she did not know any more about it than her fellow Engineer did, except when to keep her head low.

"What's that?" Trechmin demanded, pointing, leaning forward over the controls.

"Oooh." Chemi rose as well.

"Maybe we should stay away from the ports?" Topo suggested, scrunched down even lower in her seat.

"That's Impossible!"

Her comrade's outburst jolted Topo.

"Ooooooh!" Chemi rose from his seat, too. "Look at that!"

"They can't do that!" Trechmin turned around, gesturing frantically. "Come look at this! It's impossible!!" Snarling, she dove down on Topo.

"Aaaauuuufffff!!" She resisted, but Trechmin got her by the roll of loose skin and fur at the base of her neck and dragged her up.

"Look!!" Trechmin commanded.

Still cringing, Topo saw flashes of orange blaster fire zipping over the ground between the buildings, the low structures on the ground and their ship.

And two bright lines of plasma light. One blue. One green. Blaster bolts deflecting away from them.

The Jedi, their pale body coverings flapping behind them, swinging their lightsabers, ran into the command center building and disappeared. The beautiful bright plasma light vanished into the dark opening.

The blaster fire stopped.

"That's IMPOSSIBLE!!"

Trechmin released Topo's scruff and shook her fists at the buildings.

"They CAN'T DO THAT! I DRAINED EVERY DROCHET FROM THOSE POWER CELLS! THOSE THINGS WOULDN'T EVEN IGNITE!!!"

The frenzied Engineer turned around, pushing past Topo in the tight space between the seats.

"Aaay!" Chemi complained.

Trechmin stumbled toward the airlock. Horrified, Topo went after her, throwing her arms around her maddened comrade's middle. They both went down, their bodies solidly impacting and rolling on the deck.

"Don't go out there! You'll get shot!"

They were only the technical inspectors. The fighting was for the security people. And there wasn't supposed to be any fighting anyway; this last confirmation was just a formality before the final treaty in-signations. If Trechmin got shot, Topo did not know how she could explain it to their department head.

Trechmin struggled, but Topo had her from behind, arms pressed into her fur and the blubbery flesh at the waist. Neither of them got enough exercise, but near madness and panic gave them both strength. Trechmin tried kicking back, but Topo was heavier and weighed her down close to the deck.

"I'm no fighter!" Chemi said uselessly from his seat in front.

"You can't go out there!" Topo yelled, getting mad at her comrade's single-minded stupidity.

"They are NOT getting away with this! Those Jedi were hiding spare power cells! After I TOLD them that we needed everything they had! WE BARELY HAD ENOUGH TO GET HERE!!"

"The power wasn't that low," Chemi's voice said.

"That's NOT THE POINT!" Trechmin shouted back furiously, her flesh still flexing and struggling in Topo's tight and frantic embrace. "I told them we needed as much power as they had on them and they held back! Those GREEDY SELF-RIGHTEOUS SLIMO!"

"They didn't have any spare power cells!" Topo argued, trying to pull her arms even tighter around the Trechmin's trunk of flesh and fur. "Where would they put them?"

"They were hiding them in those robes! They could have smuggled a whole case of power cells in those things!"

"Those robes are right here! Why don't you check!"

Trechmin stopped thrashing. They were both on their sides, Trechmin partially on top of Topo. Next to them, long folds of brown fabric hung off of the two rear seats of the cabin.

Grunting, Trechmin struggled up and Topo let go. She pushed herself up, supporting herself on her arms and then sat on the patterned metaloid deck. Her fellow Engineer grabbed the darker brown robe belonging to Jedi Qui-Gon, but it was caught somewhere on the chair. Snarling, she struggled with it and after some ripping sounds got it free.

Still panting, Topo watched Trechmin pull and stretch every part of the robe, the head covering flap, the enormous arm coverings, the long body of dark brown cloth. It was large enough for either her or Topo to wear. Trechmin had no idea why they would wear anything so oversized. Perhaps they did smuggle things in them. But not this time.

After finally getting to the ends of the robe and finding nothing Trechmin threw it aside and went for Jedi Obi-Wan's robe. Even though he was a head smaller than his boss, Jedi Obi-Wan's robe seemed just as big and wider, too. And frustrating for Trechmin. She angrily threw it down after grasping and tugging on every rough surface of it.

"They must have hidden them somewhere else!"

"I was with Jedi Obi-Wan the whole time. Except when he was with you. And Jedi Qui-Gon was outside with Maedae. They didn't have any time to hide anything." Topo climbed up on to her feet off the deck.

"Then they're carrying them with them!"

They stood too close to each other, their heads rounded and large from their hair standing on end, their eyes only indentations on their faces. Blue shadow ringed Topo's vision; she saw everything through a tunnel of emotion. She whirled around, went to the equipment compartment and pulled out a spare blaster.

If there was a safety lock on the weapon, Topo did not know how to disengage it. She really only knew which end to point. If it went off by accident, Trechmin realized that would be very easy to explain to her department head. How could anyone who had ever met Trechmin be surprised that someone might shoot her?

"Trechmin, if you go near that airlock again before we get some kind off all clear from outside, I'll shoot you right here." She pointed the blaster at Trechmin's middle.

Trechmin's black eyes seemed to pop out from her face fur, her anger turning to shock.

"We're going to have words with those Jedi," Trechmin warned, but she stayed in her place.

"When they get back."

"Uuuuuuuhhhh," Chemi said, turning around from the forward ports. "The bare-face one is coming back now."

Topo's aim on Trechmin's middle remained steady.

"Good."

Trechmin's furry face smoothed into a scowl, her only answer.

The three of them stayed frozen in the ship's cabin of gray and white bulkheads and empty seats. Topo glimpsed movement through the forward viewport. Chemi's fluffed up head kept shifting her view between the two Engineers. But Trechmin's hair flattened on the top of her head with vexation.

Hissing, the airlock door rose.

Jedi Obi-Wan took a step and froze, his mouth open, the red inside and the bottom row of his hard white teeth exposed.

Trechmin turned her vexed expression on him.

"I came to tell you that it was safe." His mobile blue-grey eyes scanned the whole cabin. He didn't move his head at all.

"Outside," Jedi Obi-Wan finished, his breather mask still hanging around his neck.

"Just a little disagreement," Topo said cheerfully back to that wide eyed stare. She pointed the blaster away and then put it back into the storage compartment.

"There were Samak saboteurs, but only a few renegades. They had surprised the command team and taken over the Gathering Point. It is possible that the treaty may still be saved," he told them with a rising tone of encouragement.

"I don't care about that!" Trechmin snapped, pushing herself forward, her eyes level with Jedi Obi-Wan. "Where were you hiding those power cells? I TOLD you that I needed ever power cell on the ship to replace the fuel!"

He leaned back from his accuser.

"We gave you our power cores. Those are the only ones we had. We don't carry replacements."

"Then how did you get those plasma swords of yours on? We SAW you from the ship right over there!" Trechmin pointed in the direction of the forward viewport and Chemi.

"We . . . ." Jedi Obi-Wan lifted a hand, palm open. ". . . . we still had a residual charge in the crystal focusing rods. It was too unstable for you to use for your work. The discharge would have damaged the batteries. So, you left it there."

The hair on Trechmin's head lifted, her posture relaxing, her black eyes staring blankly back at him.

"Yes. . . . . a charge like that would last a minute or two before it was exhausted. Enough for you to wave those things around like you do. Impress the hostiles. It wouldn't take much with those superstitious Samaks. . . . ."

"And now you need to speak with Minister Tachnee in the command center about reassembling the technical teams again. Only our ship was sabotaged. The validation of the Samak disarmament should still be possible."

"I need to go speck with Minister Tachnee about reassembling the technical teams so this won't be a complete waste of my time," Trechmin agreed, nodding, her black eyes staring forward at nothing.

Jedi Obi-Wan pointed at the panel next to the airlock which opened immediately. His hand on her shoulder guided her down the ramp.

"There wasn't any capacitance in the focusing chamber. It couldn't have held any kind of charge. Certainly not enough for ignition. I saw the whole power train when I helped Techmin build that energy converter we used to drain those power cells," Topo finally said, taking a step forward.

One boot past the airlock threshold, Jedi Obi-Wan turned his head to look back at her. He lifted his hand. Trechmin kept going down the ramp, leaving them.

"Not that I care!" Trechmin backed up. "But. . . . .I am curious."

He lowered his hand.

"No," he shook his head, his naked lips curling upward.

"So. . . . . I wonder. . . . ." Topo said carefully, looking at the silver and black lightsaber hanging off of his belt. "Do Jedi ever stop to recharge those things? That's a pretty dense power cell you carry around. A whole lot more juice than any blaster. You might have to let it sit overnight, just to get a full charge after it was depleted."

"No." His whole face, even his eyes, smiled. "We don't."

Chemi, who had been watching, came toward them from between the rows of seats. His head tilted to one side, his eyes looked down at the weapon and then up at him.

"And nobody notices?" Topo persisted.

He lifted his shoulders and let them fall again, a wordless gesture with a Human meaning.

"Usually nobody asks," he admitted. "But it seemed to bother your friend. I thought I should give her an explanation that she was more comfortable with."

"Do Jedi care if anyone notices?" she asked cautiously.

Jedi Obi-Wan lifted and dropped his narrow shoulders again. "No. But we care if people yell at us about it."

"Mmmmmmm. I think I would, too. Especially if it's Trechmin doing the yelling.

"Will Trechmin even remember that you suggested that your lightsabers had residual charges in them?"

"Most likely not. She will only recall the things that she is comfortable with. The things that she is certain of."

"Well, I'll be sure not to contradict that to her. I don't like getting yelled at, either."

They smiled together, Jedi Obi-Wan obviously certain of his unexplainable energies and Trechmin certain she wasn't interested in asking any more about them. They looked toward Captain Chemi, watching them.

"I don't care," he declared hastily, his hands up, looking back and forth between them.

"You want to get rid of that? Since you obviously don't need it," Trechmin suggested.

Jedi Obi-Wan seemed baffled for a moment until he looked down at where she pointed.

"Oh yes, please," he agreed enthusiastically, removing Maedae's blaster belt and handing it over. She tossed it back into the weapons compartment.

"So, Jedi Qui-Gon was just humoring Sargent Maedae back there," she commented, turning back to him.

"He does do that sometimes. He believes that cooperation is always better than confrontation."

"You don't think he could teach that to Trechmin, do you?" He lifted and dropped his narrow shoulders back at her, his face scrunching in an odd unreadable way. Topo thought that meant, 'no.'

She and Chemi each took a breather from the rack and put them on, the flexible material along the edges making a tight seal over their faces down to their under fur. Jedi Obi-Wan put his on and activated the airlock hatch. The left the ship together.

**^^^ooo^^^ooo^^^ END ^^^ooo^^^ooo^^^**

This story was first posted on tf.n: 30-June-2009

**Disclaimer: **All characters and situations belong to George and Lucasfilm; I'm just playing in their sandbox.


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